Carry your own shopping bags to avoid disposable plastic and paper bags.

It takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce the 100 billion plastic bags Americans use each year. In landfills, it takes 500 to 1,000 years for plastic bags to decompose. Paper bags aren't much better – making them consumes four times the raw materials and emits 70 percent more greenhouse gas. In 2003, it was estimated that Americans used 7 billion paper bags.

To make sure you don’t end up in a store having to choose between paper or plastic bags, carry your own reusable shopping bags. You can make your own, or buy one - they are readily available in most stores for about a dollar a piece. In some stores, you can even get money back or give to charity just by bringing your own shopping bags with you.

Even though it may seem that disposable bags are free, they actually cost about 4 to 5 cents, which adds up to $4 billion annually in US, and retailers increase merchandise prices to offset the expense of the bags. Many US states are also planning to ban disposable bags or set a tax on them (from a nickle to a whole quarter per bag). So you can save money in many ways by reusing your shopping bag.

Americans recycle only 5 percent of plastic bags, all the discarded plastic sacks break down slowly in a process called photodegradation, polluting water. They also end up in ocean currents, where they can kill marine life. To find a place in your area to recycle your old plastic bags and have them turned into something new, go to plastibagrecycling.org – note that you can recycle also other kinds of plastic bags than just grocery bags as long as they are dry and clean.

Every year 14 million trees are chopped down to make paper bags. Because of their size, paper bags take up more landfill space than plastic bags. When they are covered with other trash, they do not easily biodegrade because the process requires oxygen. If you do end up with some paper bags, though, make sure to recycle them.

Grocery bags aren’t the only disposable bags you can end up with – reuse also produce bags and try not to bag all your produce – e.g. bananas or other items that don’t necessarily need bagging and will be peeled or washed at home anyway can easily be without.

When using disposable bags, skip the bag for the paper towel four-pack or other large items, as well as for the six-pack of beer and case of soda that come with carrying handles. Try to avoid double-bagging. When shopping small, remember, you don’t need a bag for items that you can just put into your purse, pocket or carry to the car in your hand. Carry your own bags also when shopping in the mall – you may have separate canvas totes for that, or you can just throw your regular grocery bags into a wash every now and then. If forgetting the totes, put items from different stores into one, instead of getting a bag from every shop. And always recycle afterwards.

Thanks to Bikernjeeks for submitting this Willenge!